The Story of Hercules
by AryaTyrell
Summary: James is a lot like Hercules. One shot between Tess and James.


**Okay. Why do I have the feeling you're going to be mad at me?...**

**Anyway, I'm soooo sorry I haven't done anything over the weekend. I had this family reunion in Las Vegas (for some reason my 90 year old great grandma lives there) and the Wi-fi at the hotel wasn't free, so yeah. I was absolutely dying to publish another chapter to 'An Accident' but I have NO idea how to start the 4th chapter. Ideas, anyone? Oh, and I'm planning on a second chapter for 'Boyfriend'- it's actually already in the works. So, here is this story to tide you over until I get both those things done... which could take a while... **

"What should we watch tonight?" Logan wondered as he flipped through numerous DVD cases.

"Paranormal Activity!" Kendall called from the kitchen.

"What! No way!" Carlos argued. "I wet my pants the last time I saw that!"

"Well it's not our fault you have a weak bladder," Tess mused, looking through DVDs with Logan.

"Hey, how about this?" Logan called, holding up 'Gone With The Wind'.

Carlos made a face. "That movies super long."

"Yeah. Watch that with Camille when you get the chance," Tess agreed.."Ooh! Ooh!" she squealed, shoving a case under his nose. "Can we watch this? Pleeeeze?" it was 'Somewhere in Time', one of her all time favorite movies.

"Ugh. That is so a chick flick."

"It is not!" Tess said in outrage.

"Yeah, let's watch it!" Carlos said eagerly. Tess caught his eye and smirked. Se knew he only wanted to get out of seeing Paranormal Activity again.

"Okay, okay. Fine." Logan held up his hands in surrender. Right around then Kendall came in with a huge popcorn bowl.

"Dinner is served," he announced. "What are we watching?"

"'Somewhere in Time,'" Logan replied, loading the DVD in the player.

"Whats that about?"

"Time travel," Tess said simply.

"Oh, cool." the weirdest thing was that Kendall didnt even question her.

"Hey, anyone seen James?" Tess asked as the previews started.

"No."

"Nope."

"Nuh-uh." (this remark was made by Carlos through a mouthful of popcorn).

She sighed. "Why am I always the search party," she grumbled, getting up from under mountains of DVDs.

"Because you're the one who cares enough to search the whole Palmwoods for one person," Kendall replied. "And plus were lazy. Pass me some popcorn, Carlos, I'm starving."

XXXXXXX

"Ha," came a triumphant voice, startling James. "So this is where youre hiding."

James leaned up on his elbows and turned around to see Tess poking her head through the sliding door. "Hey," he said weakly.

"We're watching 'Somewhere in Time' downstairs if you want to join us."

"Okay."

"Something wrong?" she asked, sitting next to him.

"No."

"Dude. You're the roof by yourself on movie night. Somethings gotta be wrong."

"Oh," he said, putting his arms behind his head again. "Nothing's wrong."

She punched him playfully on the arm. "Hey. You can tell mama anything. Go on."

He sighed. "I had a bad day in the studio today."

"How bad?"

"Real bad. Gustavo was really peeved at us today for some reason. Whatever we did, it was wrong. Whenever we finished a song, he'd tell us to do it again. And you should've heard some of his 'comments'- they really hurt. He said our singing was ridiculous and he didn't know why he signed us to his label. He said we'd be the cause of the fall of Rocque Records." He bit his lip.

"Aw, James, he didn't really mean it. I'm sure he was PMSing or something."

"Ha, I wish."

"So what made you come to the roof, which is probably a million miles up from the ground?"

"So I can see the stars."

She looked up into the black, glittering vault of the Los Angeles skyline. Sure enough, stars winked back at her. "Wow," she breathed. "Hey, look! It's Hercules!" she gasped, pointing at the sky.

James scrunched up his nose. "Who?"

"You've never heard of Hercules?"

James shook his head.

"Well, a long, long time ago, the king of the gods secretly had a child with another mistress. His wife, Queen Hera, was furious. She sent a snake into the baby's crib to kill it, but the baby strangled it with his bare hands. He grew up to be Hercules, which means "strong one" in Ancient Greek.

"But the queen must have still been pissed off, so she went to Hercules uncle, the King of Mycenae-"

"The what?"

"Mycenae. It used to be a city in Greece," Tess explained patiently.

"Oh, right. sorry. Go on."

"So Hera told the King of Mycenae to give Hercules twelve labors so he can 'prove himself', but Hera secretly hoped one of the twelve would kill him."

"Wow," James shook his head. "Thats one crazy queen."

Tess ignored his remark. "But you get the picture. Hercules was pressured to impress. Did you know when he finished his twelve labors, he became the manservant of the queen of Troy? He sat at the foot of her throne, sewing while the queen humiliated him in front of everyone."

"That's horrible."

"Yeah, well it's just a legend." Tess pulled her knees to her chest. "It kind of reminds me of you."

"Me?"

She shrugged. "You and Hercules... were always striving to please everyone. You never complained, verbally at least," she added, catching his eye. "But both of you had a side no one else ever knew about. You show that side sometimes, but it's not very obvious. Hercules was kind- one of his labors was to capture Cerberus, a guard dog of the Underworld. But the god of the Underworld missed the dog so much that Hercules brought it back. And you James...you really care about other people. Remember when Katie and Kyle first went out? You were like the overprotective older brother. Although Katie is only just Kendall's little sister, you really made sure her heart didn't get broken.

"But you and Hercules had that one fatal flaw that completely ruins everything when you least expect it- and it's pride, James. I mean, don't get me wrong. Having a little pride is good- heck, just look at Logan. He's never had any self-confidence until now. It's just that sometimes you can be a little... full of yourself." she risked a glance at her friend, hoping he wasn't mad. But his face was expressionless, so she went on.

"Sometimes it's hard to believe that the James in there-" she pointed to the door "-is the James out here. Outside you act like something you're not, and that something is an airhead. Inside, you're like..." she paused for the right word. "Fireworks," she smiled, naming his favorite song. "You're so full of color and light, and none of it shows. Ever. We want to see that, James. So what if people don't like how you are? That's their loss. So what if they tease you or insult you? Then theyre probably jealous that they're not like you. Dont be afraid to show your true colors, James. Hercules wasn't, so why should you be?"

They were silent for a few moments, each wrapped in their own thoughts.

"Look! A shooting star!" James pointed suddenly, making Tess jump.

"ugh, you just killed the moment."

He rolled his eyes. "Make a wish."

She whispered to the sparkling sky: "I don't want anything to change. I want everything to stay exactly same and not let anything get in between The Little Dipper Minus Two." She smiled at this. The Little Dipper Minus Two was what Kendall, James, Carlos, Logan and her called themselves. A real silly name, the knew, but it was based on a mistake. They wanted to be called 'The Little Dipper' back in fifth grade because they thought there were five stars in the Little Dipper- one for each of them. It was in seventh grade when Logan finally pointed out the Little Dipper had seven stars, not five.

"Your turn," she said to James.

"You said it all."

Tess stood up, brushing off her jeans. "Well, i'd better go before Carlos eats all the popcorn."

"It's probably gone by now."

"Yeah," she sighed wistfully.

"Oh, hey, what's 'Somewhere in Time' about?"

"Some dude goes back in time to find this girl he's obsessed with and then he finds a penny from 1979 so he goes back to 1986 and then dies of depression."

"Sounds cheerful."

"Yeah. Well, good night."

XXXXXX

"So where was James?" Kendall asked when she walked back in.

"Oh, on the roof."

"Really? Why?"

"Shhhh!" Logan and Carlos shushed them without taking their eyes off the screen.

"He just needed to find out who he was." she whispered.

**I just LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE 'Somewhere In Time'. I can quote that movie beginning to end :) Shame Richard had to go and die like that, though. He could have moved on to me. Stupid Hollywood writers. **


End file.
